


Hay Fever and Other Romantic Gestures

by TheDisc (TheDisco)



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Crushes, M/M, bill being soft on the DL
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 15:57:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18814183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDisco/pseuds/TheDisc
Summary: Bill reached up and touched his beard; he felt soft petals and stems sticking out. Upon glancing down, he saw a few flowers weaved into his bushy facial hair. He pulled one out and examined it, then turned an exaggerated scowl to Jack.“This funny to you?” He demanded.The laughter stopped, and Jack faltered for a second. His expression shifted from amusement towards something more scared and uncertain.Bill reached out and ruffled Jack’s hair. He then stuck the daisy behind Jack’s ear.“‘Cause I think it is,” Bill finished. “Gimme a few more. Make me smell nice.”(Bill gives in and lets Jack put flowers in his hair, but he doesn’t count on someone watching them.)





	Hay Fever and Other Romantic Gestures

**Author's Note:**

> Sneezing On Your Crush, But This Time He Doesn’t Get Tuberculosis

There was a lot of thinking to be done sober.

It wasn’t usually a good thing, and thus lead to a lot of negative thoughts, but today was an exception. Bill could sit in the warm afternoon sun with his hat down over his eyes, drifting in and out of sleep without a care in the world. It was rare, but when it came it was sweeter than honey and more valuable than gold.

The grass was green and sweet smelling. The smell of wildflowers and fresh pine seemed to float on the breeze. Bill couldn’t remember the last time he felt so comfortable, mentally and physically. For the time being, he could forget his worries and let them melt into the spring ground.

Bill was laid up a good ways outside of camp, in a little clearing with tall grass and swaying trees on all sides. The only sound to be heard was the stream babbling not far off.

He thought about everything and nothing all at the same time. Mostly, Bill drank in the warm sun, the sweet smells, and the soft sounds. It was all gentle enough that Bill could have fallen asleep.

But footsteps approaching kept him from doing so. Light, clumsy ones.

Bill didn’t need to wonder who was coming around, because once they got within a few feet, Jack’s squeaky voice asked, “You sleepin’, Bill?”

Bill grunted. “Tryin’ to.”

A thoughtful silence came from Jack. Bill heard him hum under his breath.

“Grandpa’s lookin’ for ya. He sent me to find ya.” Jack stated. His voice and steps got closer until he was directly beside Bill. “Called you a lot of mean names.”

Bill pushed his hat up a bit. “Which one?”

“Said you was a lazy and dumb son of a—”

“Which grandpa?” Bill corrected sharply.

“Oh.” Jack sat down in the grass. Bill heard it rustle under him. “Grandpa Hosea.”

Bill pushed his hat back down. He grumbled nonsense.

A breeze whistled through the canopy of leaves overhead; they shook and rustled a melody that filled the clearing. Jack plucked a fistful of grass from beside him and then scattered it in the wind.

Bill sighed into his hat.

“Did he say what he wanted?”

Jack shook his head. “No... Jus’ that he wanted to find ya, and make sure you wasn’t rottin’ somewhere.”

“Great.” Bill grumbled. “Don’t tell ‘em I’m here. First time I’ve got some peace an’ fuckin’ quiet...”

“I won’t tell,” Jack whispered. He ripped up more grass and sprinkled it in his lap. “Promise.”

Bill made another throaty noise. Jack thought he sounded like an animal, which made him smile.

They both sat there in silence for a moment. Bill was thinking mostly about falling asleep, and Jack was plucking grass and generally disturbing the wildlife. It was a fine fit.

Bill didn’t mind Jack; he was a good kid. It would have shocked a lot of people to find out that Bill didn’t really mind kids this way or that. He thought they were cute, if nothing else.

His sister had a couple kids. Bill used to make it a point to go see them every once and a while for their birthdays, but after coming back from the war, things got too complicated for that. The last time he saw his nieces, they were Jack’s age, or around there; now they must have been ten or twelve.

Thinking of it in terms of years made an uncomfortable feeling swell in Bill’s guts. He pushed it aside.

Jack shuffled beside him and got to his feet. He trudged away without a word, leaving Bill to the ambient sounds of the clearing.

Spring was a weird time of year. People always raved about its beauty and how it meant that winter was finally over, but as far as Bill was concerned, it wasn’t even that great; the first half of every spring was spent dead and dreary while the snow melted, and the rivers flooded. It wasn’t until May that the trees grew leaves and the wildflowers sprouted. Wouldn’t be such a bad thing, if it all just came quicker. And if Bill didn’t need to trudge through mud puddles and sinkholes for three months while everyone else raved about how beautiful it was out, maybe he wouldn’t mind.

But he did. People called him bitter for it, but damn the spring and everything else it entailed.

Over the sound of the bubbling brook came an equally airy giggle. Footsteps crunched and came up beside Bill. Bill raised his brow to himself behind his beat-up hat. Otherwise, he stayed still.

Jack giggled again, though it sounded like he was trying to smother the sound. Bill felt something tickle his face.

“What’re you doin’, Jack?” Bill asked. His voice was hard, though it missed any real malice.

“Nothin’.” Jack replied innocently.

“Better be nothin’. You won’t like me mad.”

Jack burst into wild giggles. He fell back as Bill suddenly sat up and pulled the hat away from his eyes.

Jack had a fistful of daisies and golden rod, and a huge grin on his flushed, chubby cheeks. He kept laughing, and it took a second for Bill to realize why.

Bill reached up and touched his beard; he felt soft petals and stems sticking out. Upon glancing down, he saw a few flowers weaved into his bushy facial hair. He pulled one out and examined it, then turned an exaggerated scowl to Jack.

“This funny to you?” He demanded.

The laughter stopped, and Jack faltered for a second. His expression shifted from amusement towards something more scared and uncertain.

Bill reached out and ruffled Jack’s hair. He then stuck the daisy behind Jack’s ear.

“‘Cause I think it is,” Bill finished. He had a crooked, uncharacteristic smile as he tilted his head back. “Gimme a few more. Make me smell nice.”

Jack’s lips spread with a grin again. Nodding happily, he hopped to his feet and returned to weaving flowers into Bill’s beard. Bill closed his eyes and let his mind wander.

Bill didn’t mind being silly sometimes, just as long as it stayed between them. He figured that even if Jack did go telling others, no one would believe him, anyway.

Big ol’ mean Bill putting flowers in his hair?

Never. Not a chance in Hell.

As the stem of a daisy ticked his chin, Bill cracked open his eye. Jack looked set and serious, as if the task at hand was the most precise and technical one he’d ever had to do.

Bill thought it was cute.

“You really like flowers, huh?” Bill asked. “You’re always pickin’ ‘em an’ whatnot.”

“Uh-huh! I think they’re pretty,” Jack said enthusiastically. “Aunt Tilly even showed me how to make a daisy chain.”

“Ya don’t say? Daisies are my favourite flower. You figure you could make me one?”

Jack’s eyes lit up. He bounced on his feet, grinning wide.

“Yeah, course!” Jack shoved his handful of flowers towards Bill. “Hold these, I’ll go get the daisies! There’s big ol’ patch of ‘em by the water!”

“Alright, go ahead,” Bill said as he took the flowers delicately. “Don’t get too close to the stream.”

“I won’t— you stay here, now! I won’t be one second!”

Bill watched Jack bound off, excitedly scrambling through the tall grass. Two seconds, and he disappeared through the lining of trees like a faun.

The silence of the woods surrounded Bill once more. Smiling gently to himself, Bill lifted Jack’s flowers to his nose. He closed his eyes as he breathed deep and enjoyed the sweet scent. Maybe spring wasn’t as bad as he thought.

And then someone sneezed not far off.

Bill’s eyes snapped open, and he jerked his head towards the sound. His eyes roved over the lining of trees surrounding the clearing, though at first, he didn’t see anything.

Bill squinted and shifted up to his feet. The hard edge returned to his voice. His cheeks went red with rage and embarrassment at potentially being caught.

“Who’s out there?”

Naturally, no one replied. Bill still waited, looking comical holding a bouquet of wildflowers with a beard full of daisies and shedding golden rod. He glared around angrily.

Another loud sneeze, and Bill located the onlooker.

Kieran was half-hidden behind a birch tree, hunched over and clutching his mouth. His eyes were wide with shock.

Neither of them moved. For a long moment, they stared at each other, equally surprised and confused. When nothing that immediately endangered his health happened, Kieran dropped his hand and smiled weakly at Bill.

That made Bill come to his senses. Cheeks flushing even hotter, Bill threw the flowers to the ground and bellowed, “Goddamn O’Driscoll!”

The smile dropped off Kieran’s face. Instead, it replaced itself with genuine terror. Kieran turned and scattered, his heart pounding. Bill thundered behind him, hollering out, “Don’t you fuckin’ run, you chicken shit!”

Kieran figured if he made it to camp again he would be in the clear, or at least that he could climb a tree and hide up there, worst come to worst. However, he only made it about ten feet when his foot caught on an upturned root. Kieran pitched forward with a yelp; he fell on his hands and knees into a blanket of pine needles and moss. Kieran flipped onto his back, and Bill was upon him.

You’d think it would be hard to be afraid of a man with daisies weaved into his beard, but Bill had a burning hate in his eyes that made Kieran want to cower. Kieran winced, his arms flinging up to cover his face as Bill pounced in his lap.

At the force and Bill’s weight, Kieran wheezed. Bill grabbed a fistful of Kieran’s shirt and reeled his other fist back, ready to strike.

“You little shit,” Bill hissed. “How much did you see?”

Kieran held his hands up defensively, as if he had the strength to fend off Bill even if he wanted to.

“I don’t know! I mean, I—I didn’t see nothin’!” Kieran hesitated. He anxiously eyed Bill’s poised fist. “Nothin’ worth tellin’ anybody about, anyhow.”

“You’re damn right you didn’t see nothin’. Because if anybody finds out about this, I’ll take your fuckin’ head off your shoulders.”

For emphasis, Bill psyched Kieran out by shoving his fist forward. Kieran flinched, his face contorted with fear.

“How long was you watchin’, anyhow?” Bill demanded.

“Just a few moments! I followed Jack out here t—to make sure he was stayin’ out of trouble.”

“Or was you tryin’ to get dirt on me?”

“What? No!” Kieran’s insides felt squirmy and odd. Bill was practically on top of him, and inches from his face. His own freckled cheeks were a deep, ruddy red. “Why would I— what would I even do with dirt on ya? N—nobody at camp trusts my word, anyhow.”

That kind of threw Bill for a loop. He faltered for a second, then screwed his expression up again. He jerked his fist towards Kieran’s face, making the latter cry out and flinch.

“Don’t matter! I ain’t gonna give you no ideas.”

“Okay! Okay. I—I just think it’s cute, is all, you know?” Kieran sputtered all at once. He turned his head away from Bill’s face and screwed his eyes shut. He tried not to think of how romantic this could have been if Bill wasn’t threatening to knock his block off. “You with Jack, I mean! You don’t look the fatherly type. It surprised me and I—I didn’t mean to spy on ya, I swear. I just—just thought it was cute.”

Once more, Bill faltered. Almost immediately, he blushed, and instead of confronting his mixed feelings towards that, he gave Kieran a good shake. Bill dropped his face close to Kieran’s.

“I ain’t fatherly, so don’t be sayin’ shit like that!” He hissed.

Kieran made a strangled noise as his head bounced off the mossy ground. Something like the word “okay” tumbled out of his mouth.

From behind them, Bill heard a twig snap. A quiet voice sang nonsense.

Bill looked back over his shoulder and watched as the tall grass by the brook shook and swayed as a little body moved through it.

“Shit,” Bill whispered.

He turned his evil glare back to Kieran. Kieran’s face was contorted in a strange way, but before Bill could ask or comment, Kieran jerked his head to the side and sneezed violently twice.

“Hay fever, sir,” Kieran managed. “I got... Hay fever. And the, uh, the pollen from your beard—”

Bill scoffed. He threw Kieran down to ground and then clambered to his feet.

“Get out of here.” When Kieran didn’t immediately move, Bill gave him a kick in the shin. “I said git! Go!”

Kieran nodded wordlessly. He scrambled around, grabbed his hat, and jumped to his feet. With a last, fleeting look and a small smile, Kieran turned and hurried his way back towards camp.

Bill adjusted his hat as he watched Kieran go. Once he was certain that Kieran was out of earshot, he turned around and wiped his cheeks down. They were still fiery red, and the encounter had left his heart fluttering in his chest like a rampant butterfly. He didn’t want to think about it, and he didn’t want to think of _why_ he felt that way, even though he knew damn well.

As Bill lumbered back into the clearing, Jack emerged from the tall grass. He had fistfuls of daisies and other flowers Bill didn’t know the names of. Roots and dirt still hung from a few of the stems.

When Jack toddled over, his smile disappeared.

“You look mad.”

“I ain’t.” Bill replied sharply. He relaxed his shoulders afterwards and sat down in the grass. “...Come on. Show me how you make them... Daisy chains.”

Jack’s eyes lit up. His smile returned, and happily he knelt in front of Bill. He laid out all the flowers, oblivious to how distracted and weird Bill was acting.

“Okay! So, the first thing you do...”

—30—

Bill’s body ached. After riding all day, scouting the area and trying to hunt, he didn’t want to think, and he didn’t want to talk to nobody— all he wanted to do was lay down and sleep until noon the next day.

When he hitched his horse at the post, Kieran glanced up at him. His mouth moved as if he were going to say something, but a mean glare from Bill convinced him to shut it again. Didn’t help any that Kieran was about the last person Bill wanted to talk to, anyhow.

Their... Encounter in the woods had been three days ago now, and Bill hadn’t heard a word of it from anyone else, either to his face or behind his back. So, thus far, the O’Driscoll boy seemed to be keeping good to his word.

The camp seemed quieter today than usual, as Bill shambled his way towards his makeshift tent. That suited him just fine, though; less people wandering and talking meant that he could get some peace and quiet. Upon entering, Bill was immediately overcome with the desire to rest and sleep, but of course, it wouldn’t be that easy.

In the low light, he noted something laid out on the bedroll.

A bouquet of daisies tied together at the stems with a bit of twine rope. Bill’s heavy brows furrowed. He knelt and picked them up to look closer.

“The O’Driscoll left ‘em there for you,” a small voice said from behind him.

Bill jumped a little with a surprised noise and jerked around.

Jack stood there, innocent as could be. Loosely, he clutched a toy horse.

“What did you say?”

“I says, the O’Driscoll left the flowers for ya.” For emphasis, Jack pointed at the flowers in Bill’s hand. “I helped him pick ‘em! He asked me where to find ‘em, so I showed him.”

Bill’s cheeks flushed. He looked again at the flowers in his hand and then shoved them out of sight partially behind his back.

“Great,” he grumbled. With his other hand, he shooed Jack away. “Leave me ‘lone, now. I wanna get some rest.”

“Are ya gonna thank him?” Jack asked. “Mama says you’re s’pposed to use manners. Pleases an’ thank yous, even if he _is_ an O’Driscoll...”

“You worry about your own business before mine. Now git!”

With one hand on Jack’s shoulder, Bill steered the boy out. Afterwards, he closed the curtains of his tent which acted like a half-assed excuse for a door and settled in the half-dark. A little light came in from under the curtains, barely enough for Bill to see what he was doing. He brought the flowers back to his front.

Kieran had left these. Put effort into fancying them up, too.

Bill’s cheeks were red, and his heart raced.

After a moment of deep contemplation, he lifted the flowers to his nose and breathed. They smelled sweet and fresh, like how spring was supposed to smell. No mud or rain, or dirt or death.

Just sweet.

Maybe a little bit like puppy love.


End file.
